Emanation thermal analysis in the characterization of zinc sulfide thin films prepared from different precursors

Abstract

Zinc sulfide thin films were prepared by the Atomic Layer Epitaxy (ALE) process from zinc acetate and zinc chloride and studied by emanation thermal analysis (ETA). The effects of different precursors and growth temperatures were evident in the ETA curves. In the films grown from zinc acetate, thermally induced changes were detected below 95 °C and above 400 °C which can plausibly be attributed to a higher amount of volatiles and to a polymorphic transition, respectively. The cubic to hexagonal transition was confirmed by DSC. Doping with terbium distorts the crystal structure and causes the peaks to become poorly discernible.